As someone who has only played the 13th installment in the Final Fantasy series and is therefore not very familiar with the series as a whole, I am somewhat disappointed with this game. Final Fantasy is considered by many to be a star in the video game firmament and since this game was supposed to be a bit stronger than the last ones, I wanted to take another look at the series.

In general, it does a lot of things right:
It has a great atmosphere, a fantastic soundtrack, an exciting setting, a visually stunning world and a plot that is captivating in its essence, but above all lives through its over-the-top fights and cinematics.

However, many other things seem almost amateurish:
The missions often only consist of fetch quests or beating up a random group of enemies. There is a great lack of variety and meaning here. This is a shame, as there is a lot of interesting world-building put into the side missions, which makes the world feel more alive than if you just rush through the main story. Unfortunately, the characters only have as much depth as a small puddle after a short summer shower. The dialog is often unpleasantly dull and the core of the main plot remains very simple. Even the seemingly complex narrative doesn't help to disguise this. The fact that the plot drags on unnecessarily also led to a feeling of "when will the game end", which is never a good sign for a game.

The combat system in general is a lot of fun, but in contrast to similar systems, like in Devil May Cry, it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of depth and variety. I had a skill set early on in the game that allowed me to play through the whole game without much thought.

All in all, I enjoyed most of the game, but unfortunately it's far too long and doesn't go beyond mediocrity.